Travelers to Unimaginable Lands - by Dasha Kiper (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

These "moving and often surprising" (The Wall Street Journal) case histories meld science and storytelling to show that caregivers don't just witness cognitive decline in their loved ones with dementia--they are its invisible victims.

"This book will forever change the way we see people with dementia disorders--and the people who care for them."--Lori Gottlieb, author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone

A BBC BOOK OF THE WEEK - A TELEGRAPH BEST BOOK OF SUMMER - A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE

Inspired by Dasha Kiper's experience as a caregiver and counselor and informed by a breadth of cognitive and neurological research, Travelers to Unimaginable Lands dispels the myth of the perfect caregiver. In these compassionate, nonjudgmental stories of parents and children, husbands and wives, contending with dementia disorders, Kiper explores the existential dilemmas created by this disease: a man believes his wife is an impostor; a woman's imaginary friendships with famous authors drive a wedge between her and her devoted husband; another woman's childhood trauma emerges to torment her son; a man's sudden, intense Catholic piety provokes his wife.

Kiper explains why the caregivers are maddened by these behaviors, mirroring their patients' irrationality, even though they've been told it's the disease at work. By demystifying the neurological obstacles to caregiving, Kiper illuminates the terrible pressure dementia disorders exert on our closest relationships, offering caregivers the perspective they need to be gentler with themselves.

Review Quotes

"[One of] the best of this year's books about dementia . . . invoke[s] literature, art to help explain what science and medicine, in all their lab-coated well-meaning-ness, cannot fully."--The New York Times

"Kiper's work is deeply moving and often surprising. Through case studies both tragic and hauntingly relatable, she provides scientific grounding for what the beleaguered caregivers go through. With understanding comes the permission for, and perhaps a chance at, self-forgiveness."--The Wall Street Journal

"For the frustrated caregiver, trapped in a vicious psychodynamic that is dehumanizing to both parties, this may provide some valuable solace."--The American Scholar

"An elegant, empathetic, immensely informative, and insightful primer for caregivers as they try to navigate the fragmented, skewed world of the cognitively impaired."--Psychology Today

"A work of exceptional compassion . . . deeply imaginative . . . immeasurably valuable."--The Guardian

"A fascinating account of the psychology of caregiving . . . The message of this compassionate book is that confusion is, deep down, part of the human condition."--The Daily Telegraph

"A book so humane and quietly profound that everyone should read it."--Bee Wilson, Financial Times

"Kiper can write with an [Oliver] Sacks-like clarity . . . A wise book, and one that is unsettling in the best way."--New Scientist

"This book will forever change the way we see people with dementia disorders--and the people who care for them."--Lori Gottlieb, author of Maybe You Should Talk To Someone

"How do we cope with those who have lost something as profound as the 'normal' sense of self? Travelers to Unimaginable Lands is a compassionate and insightful book about dementia and its startling effects."--Roz Chast, author of Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?

"Stirring, persuasive, and memorable . . . an eloquent and gripping book about personalities and the dances between them, exposing what dementia reveals about both the patient and the caretaker."--David Eagleman, neuroscientist at Stanford, author of Livewired

"This book--richly endowed with experience and wisdom--is a treasure. I predict a long life for Travelers to Unimaginable Lands for anyone interested in or intimately involved with those afflicted by dementia."--Vivian Gornick, author of Fierce Attachments

"Dasha Kiper's exhilarating and enlightening book offers sensitive, intimate portraits of Alzheimer's caregivers and their loved ones, enhanced by an informed tour of the mind and how it works."--Robert Kolker, author of Hidden Valley Road

About the Author

Dasha Kiper is the former consulting clinical director of support groups at an Alzheimer's organization and has an MA in clinical psychology from Columbia University. She has worked with both dementia patients and caregivers.